A PHOTO

“iSteve,” the first Funny or Die movie, and first Steve Jobs biopic

Congrats to everyone at Funny or Die!

Running time: 78 minutes (not including buffering)

A PHOTO

Career at the turning point: Nina Conti rediscovers ventriloquism through “Her Master’s Voice”

It’s a charming, poignant and revealing documentary. You should see it!

A PHOTO

A documentary that looks at headliners in the middle: Stewart Huff (pictured above), Kristin Key and Tim Northern.

Road ComicsReviewed at the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival.

A PHOTO

Did you see InAPPropriate Comedy over the weekend? If so, then YOU were the person I saw and heard in that cinema.

It grossed (emphasis on gross, trust me) only $156,414 in its opening weekend in 275 locations nationwide.

Ari Shaffir (pictured above) stars in and co-wrote the sketch comedy film that’s executive produced and directed by Vince Offer — whom you know better as the ShamWoW and Slap Chop guy.

Shaffir explained his part in this movie to me.

File this under a pre-interview for Paul Scheer’s podcast, “How Did This Get Made?”

A PHOTO

Top 10 Rated-R Comedies at the Box Office

Ted has crossed the $500-million mark in global earnings this week, making it the top box-office draw for an original R-rated comedy movie. Your definition of “original” does not exclude Seth MacFarlane works which center around a talking animated animal. Obviously. So Ted isn’t number-one overall just yet.

Note: Rankings as of Nov. 11, 2012.

This will explain not only why a Ted sequel is in the works, but also why so many Scary Movie and American Pie sequels exist. Follow the money!

A PHOTO

Wake up, America! It’s time to reconsider and review the 2006 film, Idiocracy, and decide whether you want satire to become your reality.

A PHOTO

I reviewed The Bitter Buddha, a new documentary about Eddie Pepitone. Spoiler alert: It’s not only funny, but also touching and humanizing.

Screens tonight in Austin, later this week in NYC, in November in a few other cities.

REVIEW and UPCOMING SCREENINGS

A PHOTO

Comedian Henry Phillips shared his thoughts with me about his deal with Showtime to adapt his semi-autobiographical film, Punching The Clown, into a cable TV series. Sarah Silverman is one of the film’s champions and will be an executive producer on the project.

READ MORE

A PHOTO

Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass and company have used new media (Twitter) and old-fashioned communications (the radio!) to spread the message to fans about their film adaptation of Birbiglia’s one-man show, Sleepwalk With Me.

IFC Films is opening the movie in NYC on Aug. 24, 2012.

As of today, their #BringSleepwalk campaign on Twitter, combined with phone calls and emails to local cinemas, has expanded their distribution to 98 cinemas across America.

Already a success story!